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Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

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Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#211

Post by frooxie »

malbs wrote: post #51

This is one of the best fitness articles I've read. Of course, that's me suffering from confirmation bias, because in 3 years of being on a health kick, I came to the same conclusions after talking to various people with a similar interest. My progression went:- Cycling -> Running -> Machines -> Body Weight Exercises -> Discovering Rippetoe/SS -> Barbell (Power Rack) The barbell is the king, and the great thing is in…

I've never tried a barbell, partly because people seem to have someone helping out when they use it. Would you recommend using one alone, or should I stick to dumbbells to avoid possible injuries?

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#212

Post by raverbashing »

muhuk wrote: post #28
raverbashing wrote: post #4

Yes The fitness "industry" like several industries out there is 80% "Fitness 101 that doesn't solve a thing" Physicians, trainers, the 'food pyramid', Fitness magazines, etc, they're all in on this crap. Not to mention most sports are more damaging (or just plain stressful) to the body than lifting weights. Tour de France is only humanly possible because of the large amount of doping used.

As a person who has been lifting weights for more than 10 years I completely agree. Bigger, Stronger, Faster lifts the veil of lies just a little: http://m.imdb.com/title/tt1151309/

That's a great movie

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#213

Post by tomjen3 »

goronbjorn wrote: post #48

> I signed a 10-page membership contract at a corporate-franchise gym, hired my first personal trainer, and became yet another sucker for all the half-baked, largely spurious non-advice cobbled together from doctors, newspapers, magazines, infomercials, websites, government health agencies, and, especially, from the organs of our wonderful $19 billion fitness industry, whose real knack lies in helping us to lose weig…

The real CTA would be for them to find a way to make guys like me _want_ to exercise (or find a way to get the benefits of exercise without exercise, which would be the real solution).

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#214

Post by cage433 »

subwindow wrote: post #66

I read this article around the time it was first published, and it has changed my life. I know it sounds corny and cliched, but it's true. This article was the first seed in my head that I needed to change the way I was doing things. It took me about 18 months after reading it to actually buckle down and start lifting, but it's no doubt that the journey started here. I ended up reading "Starting Strength" and started…

Same here - literally life changing. I tried free weights a few years ago after reading the article - loved them - bought the Rippetoe book and didn't look back.

I'm 46 now, before I began I was overweight and had frequent, severe back problems. I'm now two stone lighter, hell of a lot stronger and my back is just fine.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#215

Post by rimantas »

eru wrote: post #189
hedgehog wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have running shoes and a weight bench that's really enough. In the city you can live close to the gym and that keeps the time down, for example I can leave my apartment, return, shower, and dress in under 1:15.

What do you need the bench for? If you only get one piece of equipment, make it a barbell (with some weights). (Next you buy a squat rack. Or skipping rope, or pull up bars, or olympic rings. If you feel you need to use your triceps, buy olympic rings and do dips on them.)

For a bench press?

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#216

Post by henrikschroder »

tomjen3 wrote: post #213
goronbjorn wrote: post #48

> I signed a 10-page membership contract at a corporate-franchise gym, hired my first personal trainer, and became yet another sucker for all the half-baked, largely spurious non-advice cobbled together from doctors, newspapers, magazines, infomercials, websites, government health agencies, and, especially, from the organs of our wonderful $19 billion fitness industry, whose real knack lies in helping us to lose weig…

The real CTA would be for them to find a way to make guys like me _want_ to exercise (or find a way to get the benefits of exercise without exercise, which would be the real solution).

Gamify it! Make an app!

(Oh, right, there's already a ton of those...)

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#217

Post by Swannie »

IgorPartola wrote: post #30

I went to a "big box" type gym in January 2012 and hired a staff trainer. I told her that I wanted to lose about 20 lb, get stronger, and start running in mud runs. She started me off with basic body circuit training, working with her once a week and doing 3-5 more workouts the rest of the days. During this period I also watched my calorie intake. By May, I reached my goal on all three accounts, so she switched me to…

Congratulations. You got lucky, and got a great trainer. The sad reality is this is the exception. I take my office gym for example - I don't go there, but a colleague does. We've discussed fitness over lunch a few times, he gets it.

Guess what the trainers in the gym think about him? They personally do his workouts. They take his advice. They are happy for him to go up to other gym users and coach them, because he knows more than they do about free weights.

They are professional coaches. He's a parts logistics troubleshooter. See the problem there? (And he said that the trainers we have are actually pretty good compared to those at the many commercial gyms he's used).

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#218

Post by majelix »

jordinl wrote: post #180

Does anyone have any recommendations about dieting? I don't think that when it comes to strength eating paleo cuts it. Most of the powerlifters don't seem to care about being lean and only care about strength, so they eat a lot. I've got a lot stronger since I started training strength, but haven't got any leaner. Is there a way to have both or is it impossible?

It's possible, but difficult. Like many other extraordinary feats like doubling your bench press in a month, it's most often seen in people just starting out.

In general, gaining strength means a caloric surplus, and in general, losing weight means a caloric deficit. There are programs like leangains that try to do both. There's a reason the "pros" have separate cutting & bulking phases, although that's maybe needless and arguably dangerous for mere mortals.

I suck at dieting, so I won't give specific advice other than perhaps troll r/fitness & co.

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#219

Post by [deleted] »

huherto wrote: post #113
yummyfajitas wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I generally think progression is more straightforward with weights, this claim isn't true. With bodyweight exercises, one typically progresses by making it more difficult via leverage. See this diagram for example: http://www.operatorchan.org/pt/src/135399773193.jpg The book recommended by xweb explains in more detail how to fill the holes between these exercises.

Interesting. But the bridges sound like a bad idea for your back.

[deleted]

Re: Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie (2011)

#220

Post by Ntrails »

vidarh wrote: post #142
analog wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Higher reps for hypertrophy is around 8-12 I believe, not 50+. The problem with reps at that level for me personally is that its very difficult to know where your limit is. With failure around 5 reps it's very obvious which is your last possible rep. Also 50 reps is just much more pain for the same (or less) gain as I see it. I can do 60-70 press ups which would be in that range, but it's significantly harder work th…

Agreed. The problem with 50+ is that the weight is so low that depending on how you pace yourself, and your pain threshold, and how mentally prepared you are, you might end up at 50 or 200 on different sets, and you pretty much always can force through one more rep... A while ago someone posted an article on Reddit about a group of 5 people who had tried a 1000 kettlebell swings per day for 10 days challenge, and abo…

That is pretty much the same technique I would use to get through long pieces on the Erg (rowing machine). Continually breaking down what I had done, how far through I was, % left, how many strokes left at 24 rating etc.

The mental maths helped block out the discomfort!

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